LCROSS July 2009 Campaign
Although not yet formally announced as part of the NASA LCROSS Ground-based Observation Campaigns, Drs. Wooden and Kelley have reserved the 2009 July 1 -- 04:00 to 07:45 UT and 2009 July 2 -- 04:00 to 08:00 UT time slots on the IRTF telescope in Hawaii for "project 118", which has formerly been a code name for LCROSS practice.
The times mentioned for July observing run suggest that photos will be taken from the IRTF site starting at on before sunset.
The following diagrams, generated with the LTVT Earth Viewer, shows the position of the Moon relative to the Earth, and the location of the night-day terminator on Earth at the start and end of the run. At the beginning, the Moon should be simultaneously visible from much of North and South America; and at the end, from Australia.
(click on the thumbnails to see full-sized LTVT screenshots)
| **2009 July 01** | **2009 July 02** | ||
| **Start: 04:00 UT** | **End: 09:59 UT** | **Start: 04:00 UT** | **End: 09:59 UT** |
| [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul01_0400UT_EarthView.jpg) | [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul01_0745UT_EarthView.jpg) | [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul02_0400UT_EarthView.jpg) | [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul02_0800UT_EarthView.jpg) |
The red and blue lines are the terminator on the Earth (as seen from the Moon).
These aerial views from over the Moon's north pole plot several potential LCROSS target locations on a recent, and presumbably highly accurate, topographic map published by the Kaguya scientists in the February 13, 2009 issue of Science magazine.
| **2009 July 01** | **2009 July 02** |
| [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul01_0600UT_IRTF_ObservingGeometry_annotated.jpg) | [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul02_0600UT_IRTF_ObservingGeometry_annotated.jpg) |
An observer looking square to the limb will see the targets disposed left to the right in the manner shown.
The following simulations were created using LTVT to remap Earth-based images taken with similar lighting and librations. The first uses an image taken by American amateur Tom Bash on August 10, 2008 at 05:07 UT. The second uses Plate A10 from the Consolidated Lunar Atlas.
| **2009 July 01** | **2009 July 02** |
| [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul01_0600UT_TargetLocations_TomBashPhoto.JPG) | [](http://ltvt.wikispaces.com/file/detail/LCROSS_2009Jul02_0600UT_TargetLocations_CLA_A10.JPG) |
The letters indicate where the LCROSS targets (identified in the previous screenshot) would appear as seen from Earth at the time of the IRTF observations. The Moon is oriented as it would appear in an equatorially mounted telescope (celestial north up), and the pixel scale is half that of the IRTF slit jaw viewing camera.
At the midpoint of the LCROSS practice run on July 1, 2009 (at 06:00 UT), the Sun will be at a longitude of 75.5°E (colongitude 14.5°) and a latitude of +0.6°. The librations as seen from Hawaii will be +7.0° in longitude and +7.4° in latitude. By the midpoint of the July 2nd run, 24 hours later, the Sun's position will have advanced to Colongitude 26.7° and the librations to +6.6° (lon)/ +7.2° (lat).
The following list gives dates and times from January 2000 through January 2010 on which similar conditions could be observed. It was prepared with a special version of the LTVT [Libration Tabulator](Libration%20Tabulator), searching for similar colongitudes (rather than for sun angles at a particular feature, as it normally does). The list consists of a series of start and end lines defining the intervals in which the colongitude was within ±10° of the LCROSS value simultaneous with the Moon's north pole being tipped toward Earth (as seen by a geocentric observer).
Times when the Sun's latitude (as well as its longitude/colongitude) is close to the LCROSS value will most resemble the lighting in July (ones with a higher solar latitude -- the lunar "summer" will show more light on the poles, while ones with a lower latitude will show more features in shadow). Those with a libration in latitude similar to the LCROSS value will most closely resemble the geometry in July.
- LCROSS_2009Jul01_02_SimilarDates.txt 10 kb; rev. 8 Mar 2009 <-- click to view
This page has been edited 3 times. The last modification was made by - 
JimMosher on Jun 19, 2009 11:12 am